To:N. P. GORBUNOV

Written:Written on February 21, 1922Published:First published in 1945 inLenin Miscellany XXXV.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1976,

      Moscow,Volume 45,

      pages480b-481.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet ArchiveYou may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

ComradeGorbunov:

Bothresults are drawn upbadly.[1]These people don’t
know how to distinguish technology from economics,
conclusions from premises.

Ipropose that you:

1)haveboth the S.E.C. and the State Planning
Commission separately give their conclusion signed by responsible
persons, as soon as possible;

2)atonce take exploratory measures to enable us to
obtain a written and signed conclusion fromallthe
members of the Mikhailov commissionone by one, and leaving
them the least possibility to make arrangements with each
other(it’s up to you to do this cleverly: phone up everyone,
find out who is free at what hour, send cyclists to “catch”
them,etc.);

3)theconclusion should be drawn up in accordance with
the following programme (explanations and notes
separately)

1.Possibleextraction worth ... million gold rubles

α) now

β)withadditional expenditure of ... million gold
rubles over a period of ... years(separately for Kyshtym, Ridder, Ekibastuz,
Tanalyk),

2.Shallwe manage without the concessionaire (probably)
or not? if not, why?

α)dueto lack of capital?

β)dueto the impossibility of buying and bringing
in first-class equipment?

γ)dueto the impossibility of employing first-class
engineers?

δ)dueto the impossibility of buying and bringing
in foodstuffs? clothes? workers?or for any other (which?) reasons?

3.Conclusion:α) shall we accept Urquhart’s terms?

β)modifythem? how?

γ)rejectthem altogether?

Youmust first manage (swiftly) tocatchall the
members of the commissionseparately, and get their written
replies to these questions.

Thenlet me know the results, andafterthis we shall
put pressure on the S.E.C. and the State Planning
Commission.[2]

[1]Areference to the conclusions of the I. K. Mikhailov
commission on whether to grant a concession to Leslie Urquhart.

[2]TheMikhailov commission had reached the Conclusion that
foreign capitalists were to blame for destroying the indicated
enterprises, and came out against granting a concession to Urquhart.
Replying to Lenin’s questions, the commission emphasised that
these enterprises could be restored by the efforts of the Soviet
state. See this volume, Document 758.